TOKYO, May 7 (Reuters) - Asian shares were capped on Tuesday
by caution over weak global growth data, but renewed hopes for a
steady U.S. recovery propelled Japanese equities to a near
five-year peak.

European stock markets were seen tracking Asian shares
lower, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100
, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX
would open flat to down as much as 0.3 percent.

U.S. stock futures were down 0.1 percent, suggesting
a softer Wall Street open after the Standard & Poor's 500 Index
closed at a record high overnight.

The boost to riskier assets after a stronger-than-expected
U.S. jobs data on Friday has given in to profit taking,
reflecting a lack of investor confidence in broader economic
prospects.

"There is some profit-taking coming in after the sharp rise
in prices we saw in the recent days," said Tetsu Emori, a
commodities sales manager at Astmax Investments in Tokyo,
referring to oil prices.

"The current fundamentals are very weak, with China slowing
down and with U.S. demand not so strong."

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
eased 0.1 percent, struggling to gain after
hitting a 2-1/2-month high on Monday when market sentiment was
buoyed by the U.S. monthly employment report.

The main focus for Asia was the Reserve Bank of Australia's
policy meeting, at which the bank decided to lower its cash rate
by 25 basis points to a record low 2.75 percent.

Markets had priced in a 50-50 chance of a rate cut, and the
decision sent the Australian dollar down to a two-month
low of $1.0810 but helped Australian shares trim earlier losses.
Australian shares were last down 0.2 percent.

The next key event for the region will be a slew of April
data from the world's second-largest economy, China, starting
with trade on Wednesday, inflation on Thursday and money supply
and loan growth expected from Friday.

"Post-nonfarm payroll euphoria has proved short lived and
despite U.S. markets grinding higher overnight, markets are now
on the look out for their next reason to rally," Jonathan
Sudaria, a trader at Capital Spreads, said in a note to clients.

South Korean shares fell 0.3 percent, led by
automakers, and weighed by caution ahead of Thursday's policy
decision by the Bank of Korea as well as a weaker yen.

Japan's Nikkei stock average, however, soared 3.7
percent to rise above 14,000 for the first time since June 2008,
helped by signs of resilience in the United States, Japan's top
export market.

Japanese markets were closed on Friday and on Monday for
holidays.

COMMODITIES MIXED

London copper was up 0.3 percent at $7,290.25 a
tonne, after earlier hitting a three-week high of $7,374 on
signs the U.S. economy was in a better shape than earlier
thought and hopes demand from top consumer China may pick up.

Spot gold eased 0.3 percent to $1,464.96 an ounce,
weighed by continuing ouflows in holdings at SPDR Gold Trust
, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund,
which hit their lowest since August 2009.

"I think sentiment is quite mixed. Physical demand supports
gold but you can see some liquidation in the market," said Peter
Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong Kong.

"Gold in the medium-term is still a little bit bearish. You
can see holdings on SPDR are still down about 3 to 4 tonnes
every day."

The euro inched up 0.1 percent to $1.3087, after it
fell on Monday when European Central Bank President Mario Draghi
said the bank, which cut interest rates last week, is watching
economic data and is ready to take further action if needed.

The dollar was off 0.2 percent against the yen at 99.16
, possibly readying to test the symbolic 100 yen level
again. The dollar hit a four-year high of 99.95 yen on April 11.

While the U.S. nonfarm payrolls data caught traders off
guard, with the unemployment rate falling to its lowest since
December 2008, other economic indicators were gloomier,
including purchasing managers indexes from the euro zone and
China.